Bloomberg President Joe Biden said he thinks Vladimir Putin doesn’t want a full-blown war but will “move in” on Ukraine after amassing 100,000 troops on its border, part of an extraordinarily blunt assessment of Russian intentions and the West’s likely response. “I’m not so sure he has — is certain — about what he’s going to do,” Biden said ...

  Bloomberg Ethiopia’s government and Tigray forces are making progress in efforts to end a 14-month conflict, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said. “I am delighted that after over a year of armed conflict which has affected millions of people across Ethiopia and the rest of the region, there is now a demonstrable effort to make peace,” Guterres said. ...

  Bloomberg The European Central Bank (ECB) has “every reason” not to respond as forcefully as the Federal Reserve to soaring consumer prices, according to President Christine Lagarde. “We’re all in very different situations,” Lagarde told the France Inter radio station on Thursday in an interview. Inflation is “clearly weaker” in the euro area, while the region’s economic recovery is ...

  Bloomberg Citigroup Inc said it has hired 5,500 young employees for its Asia businesses over the last two years, ahead of its target to recruit 6,000 by 2023, after stepping up efforts to help cushion the region from soaring youth unemployment amid the pandemic. Consumer banking operation has taken up 48% of the overall hires, followed by 31% for ...

  Bloomberg The Riksbank may soon have to abandon its dovish monetary policy and start raising rates in response to inflation overshooting its 2% target, according to Swedbank economists. The bank’s main scenario is that a first policy rate hike in early next year will be followed by a second one later in 2023. However, there is a risk that ...

  Bloomberg Ukraine may increase borrowing costs further as concerns over a potential war with Russia pushed the country’s currency to the weakest level in a year. The central bank signalled last month that interest rates will continue to rise, although only a narrow majority of analysts in a Bloomberg survey expect such move at the meeting on Thursday. Five ...

  Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank gave the first signs Thursday that it will begin normalising policy, even as it left its benchmark interest rate unchanged. Bank Indonesia kept the seven-day reverse repurchase rate at a record-low 3.5% at its first monetary policy meeting of 2022, as predicted by all 29 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. In a briefing in Jakarta, ...

  Bloomberg Stocks and futures were mixed as the global sovereign-bond selloff paused and investors turned their focus to corporate earnings. Energy companies were among the biggest declines in Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index, as crude oil slipped from a seven-year high, while the rally in metals boosted miners. US futures advanced. Treasury yields dipped, but remain higher for the week ...

  Bloomberg SoftBank Group Corp. priced its biggest-ever yen bond on Thursday, using its popularity with retail investors to raise 550 billion yen ($4.8 billion) to pay off other debt. Billionaire Masayoshi Son’s technology conglomerate, which made headlines last year due to losses on Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global Inc., has been the single-biggest issuer in the Japanese corporate bond ...

  DUBAI / WAM UAE consumers are leading the way globally in prioritising sustainability as a food and drink mandate, a new survey by Bord Bia revealed. Bord Bia, the Irish food board, explored purchasing habits across 13 countries to better understand how different markets are responding to these changes. The pandemic has inadvertently accelerated a shift in shopping and ...